#sky | Reflections on the Teche

Posts Tagged ‘#sky’

Slice of Life Day 5: This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Sky

Posted in nature, Photography, Poetry, Slice of Life, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged #sky, cherita on March 5, 2025| 41 Comments »

Welcome to my weekly photo prompt. A few years ago, Laura Purdie Salas held a weekly prompt called 15 Words or Less. When she decided to stop posting, I took the idea and made it my own. If this is your first time here, the idea is to write a quick, small poem draft in the comments and leave encouraging comments for other writers. I also post this prompt for my students each week on Fanschool. This week we have a break, so they may or may not join in.

I love to look up at the sky. On any given day, the sky can change my mood. On the day I took this picture, the clouds were wispy cirrus clouds that mean high air pressure and cooler temperatures. They are a happy contrast to storm clouds or the grey stratus of a winter day. Even as an adult I enjoy looking for images in the clouds. I took this photo while out on carline duty, so only now do I have the time to see the shapes. Do you do this? Can you find an image in the clouds? What do you imagine?

Did you know there are many names for colors of the sky?

Try to use one of the color words in your poem. Today I am writing a cherita. It’s a short form of three stanzas. The first line is one line, the second: two, the third: three. Similar to haiku, a cherita captures a small moment or story.

Carline Duty

Look into the Carolina blue sky.

Find the great white heron
with whispering white feathers.

Be curious about the secrets
of sky gods
who oversee the safety of children.
Margaret Simon, draft

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

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Poetry Friday: Magic Sky

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged #imagepoems, #ProjectPoem, #sky on July 7, 2017| 15 Comments »

Poetry Friday is Carol at Beyond Literacy Link

While I was vacationing for the 4th of July in Santa Fe, NM, my Voxer Good2Great friend, Jen Hayhurst tagged me in a post about her #ProjectPoetry. I wrote about the project on my Slice of Life post on Tuesday.

I have this self-assigned goal of writing a poem a day. That gets tough when you have a husband who wants to walk all over New Mexico. My writing muscles had to give way to my walking muscles. Nevertheless, I took some pictures that planted some ideas in my brain. Once home I had time to sit. Sit with the images and process a poem. Jen’s goals for writing poems are to synthesize experience and ignite curiosity. This is what poetry should be, in our lives as well as in our classrooms.

Last night I watched Kylene Beers and Bob Probst do a Facebook live video about their book, Disrupting Thinking. When someone asked if poetry should be the first unit taught in the school year, Kylene answered, “Poetry is not a unit. Poetry is something we breath in. We should breathe in poetry every day.”

Take a deep breath and look at the amazing sky. I was astounded and mesmerized by the huge sky of New Mexico. It seemed somehow bigger and brighter and mightier there. Maybe because I was paying attention. Maybe because there was something to be learned. Maybe just to be captured in a poem.

The Magic Sky
Sculpts grey clouds
into bursts
of sparkling rain.

Then a rainbow,
a puffy horse
riding beside.

I stand above
this Rio Grande Gorge,
feel like a speck
of dust in the wind
to the magician
of the sky.

–Margaret Simon

Next Friday is National Mac and Cheese Day. Who knew there was such a thing? So Poetry Friday folks are planning to write about Mac-n-Cheese. Join in the yummy fun.

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Celebrating Sky

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Creativity, Gratitude, Teaching, Writing, tagged #nwpianthology, #sky, journal decorating on August 23, 2014| 5 Comments »

Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.

Every week Kim Douillard puts out a photo challenge from her blog site, Thinking Through my Lens. This week’s challenge word was Sky. Last night we went out to dinner near this pond and the sunset grabbed my attention. Using a filter on my phone, I captured this image.

Original photo (iPhonography) by Margaret Simon taken at Sugar Mill Pond, Youngsville, LA.

This was my first week with my students. It was so much fun to be back with them; although, a few were missing. (Moved on to middle school) We read together, decorated journals, and wrote poems about fireflies and cicadas. Two of my students, 6th grade boys, made me rubber band bracelets. My arm is very colorful.